April 2008

The New York Times has a recent story about how Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport is starting to roll out “enhanced customer service” to handle the massive numbers of travelers that stream through their hallways every year.

As more business travelers are getting stuck spending more time in airports, I think we’ll see a lot of American airports start to resemble the European “mallports” that seem to be all over the place.

Traditional fast food spots and magazine stands will probably continue to be supplemented with full service restaurants and clothing or accessories stores.

Enhanced customer service, like that practiced by Ms. Ellis, goes only so far. Airports have been adding amenities, too: more spas, massage centers, walk-in medical clinics, wine bars, lounges with showers, pet centers, art exhibitions, performances and free Wi-Fi. At Hartsfield, there are even places to buy stamps, mail a package and rent a cellphone.

As you know, free Wi-Fi sounds particularly interesting to me

When I fly, I usually show up to the airport REALLY early, so that I can get through security at whatever pace the line is moving on that particular day, and then spend the bulk of my time (hopefully) working at the gate. But I know a lot of people who are far less zen about their travel.

I was reading this piece in the New York Times about, roughly, how safe air travel really is.

The price of that safety is of course a combination of regulations (which have apparently been slack, lately) and travel security. I’m curious, as frequent business travelers, do you feel safer flying than you do traveling by other means? Do you think it’s worth the hassle of security?

Oblivion is such an attractive idea when you’re flying. Especially now that it looks like some airlines will start letting passengers use their cell phones on the plane.

Which is one of the reasons I was so sad when I broke my huge, ear-covering, audio-canceling Bose headphones last year. So far, I haven’t ponied up to replace them, but if I do, I might give this option a shot, spotted by Outside Online:

Here’s the deal: After a quick visit to an audiologist (included in the price), silicone casts of your inner ears will be on their way to becoming a new pair of nonpareil earphones that fit you and you alone. Turnaround time is about a week, and when you screw these rugged yet comfortable little numbers into your head, you’ll finally hear your tunes as the musicians and sound engineers intended.

Custom fitted headphones? Yes please. I can’t wear standard earbuds.

Obviously the correct answer is “free,” but let’s put that aside for a moment. According to C-Net, American Airlines and Virgin America are both going to be offering in-flight internet access to their travelers for somewhere between $10 and $13 per flight:

American Airlines will initially enable 15 of its 767s with broadband, and eventually it will offer Internet connectivity on 500 planes. Virgin plans to provide broadband on all its planes, according to a blog posted on GigaOm Tuesday.

The new service, called Gogo, will cost $12.95 for cross-country flights and $9.95 for flights lasting three hours or less.

As long as the service itself is fast enough to be productive, I don’t mind shelling out $10 for connectivity on a 2 1/2 hour flight. Especially if they manage to hook that deal in to any of the networks that cover airports - pay a fee at the terminal and it covers your in-flight wi-fi, too? Yeah, I’d probably do that.

Had a chance to sit down with airport guru Harriet Baskas today, and learned a lot about how airports are (or are not) catering to the needs of business travelers. One of the topics I wanted to get into with her about was the dearth of power outlets in most airports. I wanted to ask if any facilities have caught a clue and have installed ample power sources. Regrettably, we ran out of time.

Lo and behold in her current column in USA today she answers my question:

Travelers passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport have access to 900 electric outlets along the 24 gate concourse. In Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport there are currently 2,100 free power outlets, including those inside eight airline-club-inspired Samsung travel centers. More power is on its way.

According to the Telegraph.

The European Commission has apparently decided to approve the use of mobile phones and mobile phone equipment on planes in Europe, but most everything else is up to the airlines and the mobile phone carriers:

The final decision will be left to individual airlines, with Bmi, Ryanair and Portugal’s TAP planning to offer the service. Emirates and Air France have already launched trails [sic] on some routes.

However, not all airlines support the plans – Lufthansa have announced that it will not introduce the service. Surveys had shown that a large majority of customers were against it, said a spokesman for the German airline.

It’s not really a surprise to me that customers are unhappy with the addition of mobile phones to plane flights. Nobody wants to sit next to “that guy.”

Using solar powered luggage, this is completely possible.

Fortune Small Business wrote about various solar-powered luggage options available to travelers looking to spend about $150 to $250 on a messenger bag.

Their favorite option? Reware’s Juice Bag, which costs $170, and I snagged their picture for this post. It looks wonky to me, but hey, anything with solar panels designed by someone other than Jonathan Ive is unlikely to be very sexy.

The performance, unsurprisingly, was a bit mediocre on all bags. They’re probably worth more for geek points than they are for actual utility…especially indoors. Regardless, they are pretty good for geek points.

Not every business traveler is flying on a fat corporate account. For those of you running your own small business, or traveling on a fixed (small) budget, there are plenty of resources to help you snag the cheapest fare when you travel.

In the past, I’ve had pretty good luck just logging into Kayak and cruising the results, but there are a lot of options for the real deal-hunter.

Sally over at Travelhacker has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of the top 50 resources for finding cheap flights. I’ve never used many of them myself, but it never hurts to have options.